Village victory

Fiona Scott

St Boswells RFC have claimed the 2015 BT Shield with a stunning victory over unbeaten West League Division One title holders GHK at a sunny Murrayfield Stadium this afternoon.

The Villagers, also unbeaten Champions in East Division Two, got off to a dream start when, just after a Dean McCracken penalty had bounced back off the posts, Andrew Haig found himself in the right place at the right time to receive a pass and dart his way through the GHK defence.

Waiting near the line was Gary Douglas who received the ball and crashed over for a typical hookers try with Dean McCracken making the conversion.

A good 20 minutes of stalemate ensued, mostly played in GHK’s half of the field, before St Boswells took control again. Firstly Andrew Haig ran in a well thought out opportunist try which saw the Kelso seven’s specialist intercept a GHK pass to run in unopposed. And seven minutes later Dean McCracken took the initiative to go over for a fine solo effort which he converted himself. It was the Hawick stand-off who set up try number four for Graeme Lothian to make it 24-0 at the break.

After the restart it was GHK that came out of the traps quicker. Marc Taylor touched down for a well worked try before Haydn Parkes became the opportunist when he intercepted a sloppy pass in the Saints 22 and ran the length of the pitch to score. Scott Robertson converted the first.

A penalty from the boot of player coach David Cassidy helped ease the pressure in the 61st minute.

GHK continued to pile on the pressure and defensively the Boswells boys were fairly switched on, keeping their opposition at bay for a lengthy spell before eventually succumbing. Jamie MacLean was credited with the push over try which Robertson converted.

Some more desperate defending was required in the closing minutes as the Glasgow outfit fought to take the victory but Having eventually got to the final no one was depriving St Boswells of the ultimate prize and it was with great celebration that the ball was kicked out of play on the 80 minute mark.